Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllrs Adoh, Jones, Hussain, Kayani and Summers.

Cllr Stuchbury substituted for Cllr Kayani.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 7^th September 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 7^th September 2023 were agreed as a correct record. 

For Committee Members to declare any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

·       Cllrs Bates, Clarke, Darby, Osibogun and Turner declared a personal interest as a school governor.

·       Tony Wilson declared a personal interest as a trustee of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire School Trust.

Zoe Williams declared that she is employed by the Buckinghamshire Educational Partnership and as a Chair of Governors.

Public Questions is an opportunity for people who live, work or study in Buckinghamshire to put a question to a Select Committee. The Committee will hear from members of the public who have submitted questions in advance relating to items on the agenda. The Cabinet Member, relevant key partners and responsible officers will be invited to respond.

Further information on how to register can be found here: https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/your-council/getinvolved-with-council-decisions/select-committees/

Mrs Hodges has submitted the following question:

Could Buckinghamshire Council provide an update on the implementation of an EHC Hub (a digital platform) supporting engagement, contributions and collaboration on EHC assessments, plans and reviews. Parents/guardians, staff and professionals can spend considerable periods of time chasing information which could be accessed online providing up to date information to all parties?

Question by Sarah Hodges and response from the service – October 2023 

Could Buckinghamshire Council provide an update on the implementation of an EHC Hub (a digital platform) supporting engagement, contributions and collaboration on EHC assessments, plans and reviews. Parents/guardians, staff and professionals can spend considerable periods of time chasing information which could be accessed online providing up to date information to all parties?  

This question was originally raised by Sarah Hodges in November 2021. 

The response to this question was as follows: 

The digital EHC system was initiated with schools in 2021 for new EHC assessments; however, the initial launch was not successful and further work on the system was required and as a result, implementation was paused. The remedial work has been completed and the digital platform is due to re-launch with schools in April 2024. If successful, this will then be extended to families by September 2024. 

To receive the Annual Report of the Buckinghamshire Children Safeguarding Partnership  2022-2023 presented by the Chair, Walter McCulloch.

Contributors:

Cllr Anita Cranmer, Portfolio Holder Children’s & Education

Walter McCulloch, Chair of the Bucks Safeguarding Partnership Board

Cabinet Member, Cllr Anita Cranmer introduced Walter McCulloch, Chair of the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership. She explained that the Partnership is a statutory multi-agency body, which oversees children’s safeguarding across Buckinghamshire acting both as a critical friend and as a champion for best practice across agencies.

Walter McCulloch summarised the annual report and highlighted the following points:

·       The Safeguarding Partnership concentrated on four domains:

o   Using data to evidence the impact of the work done

o   Ensuring qualitative assessment

o   Listening to the voices of staff

o   Bringing the voices of those with lived experience to the forefront

·       There had been good examples of lived experience contributing to case reviews. At multi-agency events, presentations made as personal testimony, giving specific examples of lived experience had been very powerful and valued highly.

·       In children’s safeguarding, there has been an issue about how incoming concerns are handled collectively by the different agencies.  The use of data evaluation had led to the development of a challenge event focussing on the use of the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub. This had been subject to difficulties around staffing levels and unprecedented levels of work in the last year

·       There was an acknowledgment that there should be a work focus to improve continuity between services for 16 to 25 year olds

·       There is good evidence that cross border work happens effectively – neighbouring local authorities and police forces are working well together

·       A revised business plan for the Safeguarding Partnership is being signed off in December. This would cover the four domain areas as well as further development of the partnership, strengthening the initial triaging of cases, bringing to the forefront the use of information from the “lived experience” and ensuring evidence of the impact of case review work.

The Chairman invited Members’ questions. In response to questions and during subsequent discussions, the following main points were noted:

·       There is a need for analytical work on child death figures by the Child Death Overview Panel. The figures for child deaths during the pandemic had been submitted as part of a three-year catch-up report to the Partnership and had been correctly analysed. The figures for 2021 to 2022 were now required to complete the picture for previous years. The child death overview panel covers the ICB area and has data from this geographical area.

Action: Walter McCulloch to circulate comparative child death information from the ICB area, statistical neighbours and nationally

·       Partnership working across the agencies which help young people is good and will be developed further, for example, by enhancing joint collaboration when the system is under pressure. Walter McCulloch is in regular contact with the Chief Constable of Thames Valley police, the Chief Executive of the council and the ICB Chief Executive to ensure further development of partnership working and to develop the effectiveness of the front door service.

·        170 children are currently missing from education. There is a team dedicated to finding the children who are missing and both housing and health information are  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

For the Select Committee to receive an update on the SEND Improvement Programme.

Contributors:

Cllr Anita Cranmer, Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services and Education

Cate Duffy, Interim Service Director - Education

Caroline Marriott, Head of Integrated SEND Services

Lucy Pike, Head of Transformation and Improvement

The Chairman welcomed Cate Duffy, Interim Service Director, Education, Lucy Pike, Head of Transformation and Improvement and Caroline Marriott, Head of Integrated SEND Services to the meeting.

During the update, the following main points were made:

·       The purpose of the update was to report progress and improvements following the SEND inspection of March 2022

·       A written statement of action (WSOA) had been made concentrating on neuro-developmental pathways, community paediatricians and therapies with an emphasis on the delays which had been experienced by families to get this provision.

·       £4.6 million had been received this year from the ICB (Integrated Care Board) to decrease waiting lists for treatment and increase clinical capacity.  Recruitment and retention of staff is a nationwide and ongoing issue.

·       An all-age autism strategy was in the final stages of development and would be presented to a Cabinet meeting in January 2024.

Some examples of how the service had improved included:

·       A single provider model was being used for 15–19 year olds for ADHD assessment. Digital assessments would be used to offer support for autism more quickly.

·       The voluntary sector was helping to support families within  the neurodevelopmental pathway

·       Community paediatricians were arranging to use other professionals  to decrease waiting times

·       Prescribing pharmacists had been able to carry out medication reviews and had eradicated the backlog for these reviews

·       The “Waiting Well” initiative ensured that support was in place at the right time, aiming for early intervention.  Numerous activities included social prescribing, equine therapy and other support offers were used

·       The overall quality of new EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans) had improved from 11% to 78% graded as good in 2021 and then August 2023 but there was still a significant amount of work needed to improve existing plans. The timelines for producing these needed  improvement due to the increase in demand and a shortage of educational psychologists. The aim is to meet the 20-week statutory target

·       There had been several new offers which had helped families, including a toolkit giving guidance on EBSNA (Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance), Holiday activity and food programmes, support for children Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) with an increase from 12 to 40 internships provided by the authority for children with SEND. 

·       Much work had been undertaken to rebalance the system through co-ordination of   work at the early intervention stage. A programme called “Delivering Better Value” was in place to make the best use of resources to improve the experience of both children and families.

·       There will be a SEND inspection within the next three years which will be carried out under the new framework introduced in January 2023.  Preparation for this inspection was under way

In response to Members’ comments the following points were made:

·       The All-Age Autism Strategy would be shared with the committee before it is published in January 2024

Action: The new Autism Strategy to be circulated to the committee following Cabinet.

·       To help in the short-term, some associate educational psychologists have been successfully recruited.  In the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

For the Committee to

(i)                  note the work programme for the rest of the council year 2023-2024 and

(ii)                consider the subject matter for review work

The Chairman proposed that the issue of school attendance would be a good subject for a more detailed piece of work. She explained that this issue had not been considered by the committee since before the covid pandemic and non-attendance had increased since then.  A report is due to come before the committee in March 2024 and a scope for the review taken to the January committee. The committee agreed to this proposal.

Action:  Scrutiny Officer to commence drafting the scope for review work on school attendance

The next meeting of the Select Committee will be held on Thursday 25^th January at 2.00 p.m. in The Oculus, The Gateway, Aylesbury.

Thursday 25th January at 2.00 pm in the Oculus, The Gateway